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This is an octopus, and this is an alien predator. Wait. It is actually still an octopus.
Explores prehistoric giant octopus relatives (Nanaimoteuthis) whose fossil beaks reveal a Cretaceous predatory world, re-dated via micro-CT and AI modeling.
Key Takeaways
- Fossil beaks are a rare biological record that can reveal soft-bodied cephalopod ancestry and size.
- The study revised the evolutionary timeline of true octopuses and placed them within the deep-water Cirrata lineage.
- Giant Cretaceous cephalopods were likely deep-water dwellers, not surface predators.
- Some behavioral and neurological claims are speculative and should be treated as hypotheses.
What the video covers
- Modern octopuses are shy, soft-bodied animals that mainly defend themselves by camouflage and ink, but ancestors once reached over 10 m.
- Fossil beaks, made of beta chitin and sclerotin proteins, survive when soft tissue decays, making them key evidence.
- A 2026 study led by Dr. Yasuhiro Iba (Hokkaido University) re-examined museum archives and newly excavated specimens from Japan and Vancouver Island.
- Micro-CT scanning combined with AI-driven geometric modeling reconstructed internal structures without damaging fossils.
- The study identified two species in the genus Nanaimoteuthis: N. jeletzkyi and N. hagarti.
- N. jeletzkyi is described as the oldest known true octopus fossil, pushing the origin back at least 5 million years.
- Beak anatomy places these animals in the suborder Cirrata (finned octopuses), extending their divergence timeline by about 15 million years versus molecular clock estimates.
- Fossils date to 100-72 million years ago, and the largest beak was about 1.5 times longer than an adult giant squid's.
- The narrator argues mollusks traded heavy shells for speed and crushing jaws, an example of convergent evolution with vertebrate jaws.
- Several claims, including brain capacity and hunting behavior, are inferences from modern relatives rather than direct evidence.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Terrifying Prehistoric Octopuses
- 01:39Modern Octopuses and Ancient Giants
- 03:25Beak Chemistry and Fossil Survival
- 06:25The 2026 Study and Micro-CT Methods
- 10:45New Species and the Octopus Timeline
- 14:40Deep-Sea Ecology and Armor Loss
- 20:22Hunting Mechanics and Speculative Inferences
- 33:13Conclusion: Size Versus Adaptability
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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Today, most octopuses we know are just shy, soft-bodied creatures gliding harmlessly among coral reefs and spending half their lives running from sharks, seals, or ending up on human dinner plates.
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Today, most octopuses we know are just shy, soft-bodied creatures gliding harmlessly among coral reefs and spending half their lives running from sharks, seals, or ending up on human dinner plates.
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Their ultimate defense mechanism is merely changing color to camouflage and praying that no predator spots an easy boneless meal.
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The greatest threat an ordinary octopus can pose is simply puffing out a harmless cloud of ink before swimming away in a panic.
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In prehistoric times, ancestors of these mollusks reached over 10 m in length, encased in pointed limestone shells as hard as steel or armed with giant horny beaks that crushed both ancient turtle shells and armored fish bones.
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Their ultimate defense mechanism is merely changing color to camouflage and praying that no predator spots an easy boneless meal.
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And what wiped that empire entirely from the oceans? To uncover traces of this lost predatory empire, the only surviving clues lie in ancient horny beaks recently unearthed around the Pacific Rim.
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Yet, turning back the clock hundreds of millions of years ago, these cephalopods were not the victims. They were the terror itself.
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However, the central beak has a completely different molecular makeup. Composed mainly of beta chitin cross-linked with sclerotin proteins, the parrot-like beak is hydrophobic and resistant to most organic acids and digestive enzymes.
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In prehistoric times, ancestors of these mollusks reached over 10 m in length, encased in pointed limestone shells as hard as steel or armed with giant horny beaks that crushed both ancient turtle shells and armored fish bones.
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This mechanical durability laid the groundwork for a breakthrough study in paleontology. A major methodological leap occurred when a team led by Dr. Yasuhiro Iba of Hokkaido University published in Science in 2026 and re-examined long-forgotten museum archives.
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How could a soft-bodied creature rise to the very top of the ancient food chain?
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These fossils date to 100 to 72 million years ago, spanning the Santonian to Campanian stages of the late Cretaceous.
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And what wiped that empire entirely from the oceans? To uncover traces of this lost predatory empire, the only surviving clues lie in ancient horny beaks recently unearthed around the Pacific Rim.
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The breakthrough came from high-resolution micro-CT scanning paired with AI-driven geometric modeling. This method digitally cross-sectioned the fossils at micrometer precision, reconstructing internal muscle cavities in 3D without damaging the original specimens.
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When a soft-bodied creature dies, its watery tissues and skin degrade via bacteria or collapse under sediment pressure within days.
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Identifying Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi directly revised a decades-old evolutionary timeline. In paleontology, pinpointing a precisely dated transitional link acts as a coordinate that realigns the entire phylogenetic tree.
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However, the central beak has a completely different molecular makeup. Composed mainly of beta chitin cross-linked with sclerotin proteins, the parrot-like beak is hydrophobic and resistant to most organic acids and digestive enzymes.
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This pushed back the origin of true octopuses by at least 5 million years. Moreover, beak anatomy placed them in the suborder Cirrata, finned octopuses, extending the divergence timeline of this lineage by 15 million years compared to molecular clock estimates.
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In the anoxic conditions of the Cretaceous seafloor, slow mineralization preserved these structures as the only enduring biological black boxes.
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Cretaceous finned octopuses were likely deep water dwellers from the start, much like living cirrates such as the Dumbo octopus, Grimpoteuthis, which ranges from 300 to over 7,000 m deep.
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This mechanical durability laid the groundwork for a breakthrough study in paleontology. A major methodological leap occurred when a team led by Dr. Yasuhiro Iba of Hokkaido University published in Science in 2026 and re-examined long-forgotten museum archives.
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In short, this discovery does not rewrite the habitat of the Cirrata lineage. It proves that deep-sea ecology emerged early in evolutionary history, even among giant forms.
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Rather than relying solely on external morphology, the team reassessed 15 archival beaks alongside 12 newly excavated specimens from Japan and Vancouver Island, Canada.
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The absolute size of the beak from Nanaimo toothis hakgati shattered all standard scales for prehistoric cephalopods.
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These fossils date to 100 to 72 million years ago, spanning the Santonian to Campanian stages of the late Cretaceous.
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Yet morphometric data from the largest N. hakgati specimen in Japan showed its beak was roughly 1.5 times longer than that of an adult giant squid.
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To be honest, what amazed me wasn't just the age of these fossils, but how the team actually studied them.
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Its broad jaw angle and expanded muscle attachment plates reveal a massive oral apparatus that far exceeds any known morphological limit in mollusks.
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The breakthrough came from high-resolution micro-CT scanning paired with AI-driven geometric modeling. This method digitally cross-sectioned the fossils at micrometer precision, reconstructing internal muscle cavities in 3D without damaging the original specimens.
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Honestly, the first time I saw a boneless creature, I easily mistook it for an evolutionary flaw.
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The analysis formally identified two new prehistoric species in the genus Nanaimoteuthis: Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and Nanaimoteuthis hagarti.
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Under the harsh survival pressures of ancient oceans, encasing oneself in a dense mineral fortress gradually exposed fatal limitations.
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Identifying Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi directly revised a decades-old evolutionary timeline. In paleontology, pinpointing a precisely dated transitional link acts as a coordinate that realigns the entire phylogenetic tree.
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As high-speed pursuits emerged in the upper water columns, natural selection redirected their entire biological strategy, abandoning passive defense in favor of proactive offense centered on the evolution of specialized crushing jaws.
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The N. jeletzkyi key specimen from the Pender Formation on Vancouver Island was officially confirmed as the oldest fossil of a true octopus ever recorded.
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Roughly 423 to 407 million years ago, spanning the late Silurian to early Devonian, these two phylogenetically distinct lineages simultaneously underwent an anatomical turning point, shifting from passive filter feeding or scraping to mechanical leverage systems capable of clamping shut under force.
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This pushed back the origin of true octopuses by at least 5 million years. Moreover, beak anatomy placed them in the suborder Cirrata, finned octopuses, extending the divergence timeline of this lineage by 15 million years compared to molecular clock estimates.
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In parallel, cephalopod ancestors harnessed the organic polymer beta chitin to craft a two-part parrot-like beak delivering highly concentrated shearing force.
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Contrary to assumptions that giant ancient cephalopods lived in active surface waters, geological evidence aligns Nanaimoteuthis closely with its modern descendants.
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This foundational biomechanical breakthrough triggered a comprehensive anatomical overhaul across both groups. In vertebrates, this anatomical revolution began with the progressive elimination of bulky dermal armor plates to optimize hydrodynamics.
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Cretaceous finned octopuses were likely deep water dwellers from the start, much like living cirrates such as the Dumbo octopus, Grimpoteuthis, which ranges from 300 to over 7,000 m deep.
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Across subsequent geological periods, natural selection steadily dismantled this heavy external armor, replacing it with the thin, overlapping scales of bony fishes, which drastically reduced hydrodynamic drag.
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The only real difference is that Nanaimoteuthis may have inhabited slightly shallower zones than modern cirrates, rather than undergoing an inverted ecological shift from the surface down into the abyss.
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This trend of casting off passive defense for pure speed unfolded consistently across vertebrates. And a parallel scenario played out among cephalopods.
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In short, this discovery does not rewrite the habitat of the Cirrata lineage. It proves that deep-sea ecology emerged early in evolutionary history, even among giant forms.
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Their distant ancestors in the Ordovician and Silurian typified by nautiloids and later ammonites roamed continental shelves carrying meter-long conical shells or heavily coiled spirals. Over time, competitive pressure for speed drove the internalization of this rigid shell. The outer calcareous
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Their dominance became even clearer when researchers compared the fossil beak of the second species.
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In a decisive evolutionary leap, advanced cephalopod lineages eliminated even this internal rigid framework, reducing the entire body to pure soft tissue.
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The absolute size of the beak from Nanaimoteuthis hagarti shattered all standard scales for prehistoric cephalopods.
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Sacrificing passive protective shells granted cephalopods a suite of profound advantages in fluid dynamics and neurobiology.
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Today, the giant squid, Architeuthis dux, holds the record for the largest chitinous beak among living cephalopods, adapted for slicing through prey.
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A boneless supple body allowed them to deform plastically, squeeze through narrow crevices, and virtually eliminate their turning radius when ambushing prey or evading enemies.
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Yet morphometric data from the largest N. hagarti specimen in Japan showed its beak was roughly 1.5 times longer than that of an adult giant squid.
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This evolutionary gamble transformed them from sluggish, reclusive dwellers into proactive, razor-sharp hunters boasting some of the highest speeds and sensory acuities in the ancient sea.
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While modern squid beaks already inspired deep sea monster lore, an 80-million-year-old octopus beak, superior in size, wall thickness, and mineral hardness, offers indisputable proof of a gigantic body.
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It is worth noting that this is a generalized physiological feature documented across modern cephalopods, an extended ecological inference rather than a discrete discovery drawn from an individual fossil, and the biochemical behavior of hemocyanin itself is far more nuanced
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Its broad jaw angle and expanded muscle attachment plates reveal a massive oral apparatus that far exceeds any known morphological limit in mollusks.
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Comparative physiological studies show that hemocyanin's oxygen affinity typically drops as water temperature rises, meaning the pigment is not intrinsically superior in warm, oxygen-depleted waters as is sometimes casually claimed.
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All soft tissue has vanished into the past, yet the surviving horny beak is enough for scientists to decipher the true size of this predator.
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Therefore, if this adaptation aided octopus ancestors during Cretaceous oceanic anoxic events, the mechanism likely rested on broad physiological plasticity rather than a single immutable thermodynamic edge. However, this evolutionary leap toward full-body liberation left an immense void in the modern
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Honestly, the first time I saw a boneless creature, I easily mistook it for an evolutionary flaw.
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For centuries, the overarching portrait of giant soft-bodied Cretaceous predators remained veiled by this absence of skeletal remains, leading science to presume the apex trophic tiers of that era belonged entirely to marine reptiles.
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But what actually unfolded was a historic shedding of armor. Mollusks didn't become vulnerable by chance. They deliberately shed their heavy, rigid shells in exchange for agile speed and an entirely new predatory arsenal.
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How do you reconstruct the true dimensions of an apex predator when the only thing preserved through deep time is a lone horny beak?
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Under the harsh survival pressures of ancient oceans, encasing oneself in a dense mineral fortress gradually exposed fatal limitations.
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But in comparative anatomy, the architecture of the parrot-like beak preserves the creature's complete biological blueprint.
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While a calcareous shell offered passive defense against mechanical trauma, it turned the organism into a ponderous mass, moving sluggishly and expending immense amounts of energy simply to maintain buoyancy.
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When examining modern finned octopuses belonging to the suborder Cirrata, biologists identified two distinct morphological profiles.
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As high-speed pursuits emerged in the upper water columns, natural selection redirected their entire biological strategy, abandoning passive defense in favor of proactive offense centered on the evolution of specialized crushing jaws.
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belonged to the elongated morphotype, paving the way to apply linear regression equations to reconstruct mantle length directly from beak metrics.
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The independent emergence of mechanical jaw structures in both vertebrates and cephalopods stands as prime evidence of convergent evolution.
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Next, they multiply this figure by a standardized mantle to arm ratio established from extant octopus species to calculate total body length measured from the apex of the mantle to the tip of the longest arm.
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Roughly 423 to 407 million years ago, spanning the late Silurian to early Devonian, these two phylogenetically distinct lineages simultaneously underwent an anatomical turning point, shifting from passive filter feeding or scraping to mechanical leverage systems capable of clamping shut under force.
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This represents an imposing figure, as even its lower bound rivals the largest modern octopus species alive today, such as the giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini.
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In vertebrates, the anterior gill arches gradually transformed into upper and lower jaws articulated to the neurocranium.
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Analytical reconstruction suggests this species measured from 6.6 m upward, potentially attaining a staggering maximum length of 18.6 m.
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In parallel, cephalopod ancestors harnessed the organic polymer beta chitin to craft a two-part parrot-like beak delivering highly concentrated shearing force.
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Now, let me put that 18-m scale into terms that actually land. When an organism scales up like that, morphological laws force us to confront a terrifying reality regarding volumetric displacement and biomass.
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Two fundamentally different engineering solutions in terms of material, yet aimed at the same biological function: gripping, tearing, and crushing prey.
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When an organism doubles in length, its volumetric mass scales exponentially by a cubic function.
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This foundational biomechanical breakthrough triggered a comprehensive anatomical overhaul across both groups. In vertebrates, this anatomical revolution began with the progressive elimination of bulky dermal armor plates to optimize hydrodynamics.
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To sustain such a colossal soft-bodied mass within Cretaceous marine environments, this creature likely possessed a high-capacity closed circulatory system akin to its living descendants.
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During the Devonian, dominant apex predators like placoderms relied on massive bony shields encasing their anterior halves for invulnerability, but the trade-off was clumsiness and enormous energy expenditure whenever they needed to maneuver.
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However, confronted with an extraordinary projection such as 18.6 m, the scientific community maintains rigorous skepticism to preserve methodological integrity.
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Across subsequent geological periods, natural selection steadily dismantled this heavy external armor, replacing it with the thin, overlapping scales of bony fishes, which drastically reduced hydrodynamic drag.
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Several independent paleontologists, most notably Professor Christian Klug of the University of Zurich, a foremost authority on fossil cephalopods, have publicly characterized this maximum size estimate as rather extreme.
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The culmination of this streamlining became evident in secondary marine reptiles of the Mesozoic, whose bodies evolved into sleek spindle-shaped silhouettes with smooth skin capable of explosive bursts of acceleration with a single flick of the tail.
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Compounding this difficulty is the severe scarcity of comparative empirical data regarding deep-sea cirrata, both ancient and modern, given that live specimens from these abyss-dwelling clades are exceptionally rare to collect and examine.
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This trend of casting off passive defense for pure speed unfolded consistently across vertebrates. And a parallel scenario playe
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Klug himself acknowledged that absolute dimensions remain difficult to establish with certainty when relying solely on isolated jaw elements.
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Nonetheless, he affirmed, "There is little doubt that these creatures ranked among the apex marine predators of the ancient world. Even if one accepts the probability that its realized dimensions occupied the lower tier of the statistical curve, Nanniteuthis remains a titanic entity
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capable of profoundly reshaping the ecological architecture of prehistoric seas. A soft-bodied organism spanning several meters, equipped with dense muscular arms and a mass potentially measuring in the tons, could never have been a suspension feeder or an opportunistic scavenger.
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Such immense metabolic volume required a massive and continuous influx of caloric intake to power the biomechanical operations of its muscular hydrostats.
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Pure mechanical calculations indicate that its monumental size was not a biological quirk, but an exquisite anatomical adaptation tailored to exploit a dense yet physically demanding trophic reservoir of its era. Yet, how could a boneless, soft-bodied animal, regardless of scale,
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harvest sufficient caloric energy from an ocean teeming with prey barricaded inside dense skeletal matrices and heavy mineralized armor?
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The answer isn't in its body size at all. Here's what really caught my attention.
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It was engraved right on the surface of the chitinous beak. There, microscopic fracture patterns and wear tracks tell a clear story.
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This animal wasn't just a hunter. It was a true bone-crushing machine. When observing a horny beak under a high-magnification optical microscope, paleontologists do not just see a simple anatomical structure.
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They read a detailed record of the most violent mechanical impacts that occurred during the animal's life.
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Unlike the sharp, smooth beaks of young individuals used only to hold soft prey, the beak surfaces of adult Nannimoctopus individuals are covered with signs of severe deformation.
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The original sharp tip was almost completely worn away, turning into a blunt, rounded contact surface with roughly chipped edges.
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More notably, on the largest specimens of N. hegartyi, the tip of the upper beak lost up to 10% of its total linear length due to accumulated wear.
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Scattered across the cutting edge are many conchoidal fractures, a typical breakage pattern that appears only when an organic material hits a mineralized surface of equal or greater hardness with extreme force.
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The presence of deep parallel scratch grooves mixed with areas polished smooth by continuous friction is undeniable physical evidence. This animal practiced durophagy, eating hard items, at an extremely high level.
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To generate enough force to wear down such durable beta chitin, their soft head needed a mechanical lever system with extraordinary power.
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In comparative anatomy, the strength of a beak depends not only on material hardness, but is also directly determined by the volume of the adductor muscles anchored around it.
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On Nanamoyto, this fossils, researchers noted that the lateral walls of the lower jaw extended unusually far and spread deep towards the back of the mouth cavity, creating a huge surface area for attachment. The exact pressure per unit area cannot yet be measured directly in
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a laboratory and remains an estimate modeled from shape. Even so, biomechanical principles show that this enlarged muscle attachment area allowed the accumulation of maximum pulling force when the two beak halves closed.
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When the full contraction force from the massive adductor muscles was transferred straight to the narrow pivot point at the beak tip, it created concentrated pressure large enough to break, crush, and pierce the thick shells or dense bones of prey.
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However, a powerful jaw would be completely useless if the animal lacked a mechanism to hold and disable prey before delivering the fatal bite.
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Because soft fossil tissue cannot survive for tens of millions of years, we can only apply the physiological principles of modern octopuses to infer how Nannimochithis controlled its targets.
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Cephalopods operate their arms based on the principle of muscular hydrostats, a movement system that requires no skeleton at all, working similarly to a mammal's tongue or an elephant's trunk.
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Thanks to the tight three-dimensional weave of circular, longitudinal, and oblique muscle fibers, the arms can both extend and bend flexibly, as well as stiffen instantly to create a suffocating grip force.
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Combined with hundreds of suckers with horny rims that firmly grip the prey surface, these huge arms, meters in length, could lock swimming limbs, eliminate the victim's ability to escape, and force the target directly into the center of the crushing beak.
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The combination of hydrostatic grip force and the ability to crush hard objects led the research team to propose a bold ecological hypothesis.
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Nannimochithis, this may have competed directly at the top of the food chain with giant marine reptiles.
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The authors suggested that the severe wear on the beak might reflect the act of biting through the thick, mineralized joints of large vertebrates.
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From this, they built a scenario where Nannimochithis could have hunted both plesiosaurs and juvenile mosasaurs.
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Fairly speaking, we need to be honest about the facts. This remains an indirect deduction drawn solely from reconstructed anatomy and hypothesized biological mechanics.
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Currently, paleontologists have not found any direct fossil evidence, such as beak bite marks on fossilized mosasaur bones or plesiosaur vertebrae preserved alongside the specimen to confirm this predatory relationship in reality.
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The lack of direct bite marks keeps this hypothesis an attractive ecological possibility, rather than a certain historical conclusion.
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Although the extent of marine reptile hunting remains debated in academia, the fact that Nannemouthus owned a jaw capable of making it an apex predator in the Cretaceous is a biological reality that is hard to deny.
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Even though they lived in deep waters similar to modern cerat descendants, they were not passive or vulnerable to vertebrate predators.
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On the contrary, they directly helped shape the flow of energy in the ancient marine community thanks to their highly specialized crushing weapon.
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Possessing a jaw with such superior mechanical capability proves that this mollusk reached the peak of mechanical adaptation, turning a boneless body into a formidable predatory force in Mesozoic oceans. Yet, physical muscle strength and a massive bone-crushing beak were still not the
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most surprising features preserved in these fossils. When shifting analysis to the shape symmetry of the wear patterns, scientists discovered an unusual sign outside of all random mechanical rules.
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A subtle anatomical clue revealed that this hunting machine was controlled by a nervous system and brain evolved far ahead of its time.
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While 3D scanning and measuring all 27 fossil beaks, scientists discovered a striking pattern. Wear was not evenly distributed, but concentrated heavily on the right side of every specimen.
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Measurement data from Dr. Ibar's team showed that in both ancient octopus species, the right cutting edge was consistently more worn down and lost far more surface area than the left. In biology, heavy wear on one side from repetitive use is known as behavioral
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lateralization. Essentially, having a dominant side, much like human handedness. This reveals that when capturing hard-shelled prey like turtles or snails, the predator consistently rotated its catch to crush the shell with the right edge of its beak.
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This rare fossil evidence proves these prehistoric octopuses possessed an advanced brain capable of calculated, deliberate actions rather than erratic biting.
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A dominant side during complex tasks is a hallmark of high intelligence. Unlike humans or vertebrates with two cerebral hemispheres, an octopus's brain forms a ring around its esophagus, flanked by symmetrical visual and motor centers.
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Favoring one side speeds up information processing. The dominant eye locks onto targets and triggers immediate bite commands without cross-body signaling delays.
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As a result, this ancient octopus never relied on blind instinct. It mapped 3D space, assessed its target, and pinpointed the structural weak spots in armor before delivering a crushing blow.
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To understand how a boneless predator coordinates such complex attacks, we can look at modern octopuses. This remains a comparative inference from living species, as soft fossil brains decay entirely.
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In living octopuses, the central brain delegates most control to the arms, which hold roughly 2/3 of the animal's neurons.
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Each arm acts like an autonomous computer, tasting chemicals, adjusting sucker grip, and locking down prey without waiting for central brain commands.
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Prehistoric giants likely hunted the same way. Arms automatically pinned and aligned the prey at the optimal angle before the central brain initiated the final crushing strike.
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This calculated intelligence paired with armor-cracking bite force positioned this apex predator at the center of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution.
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This was an intense underwater arms race during the age of dinosaurs. As predators evolved crushing jaws to break shells, prey like clams, snails, and crabs adapted in response.
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They grew thicker armor, sharper spines, and reinforced ridges to survive. The chipped beaks of these ancient octopuses prove they were active drivers in this arms race forcing benthic prey to continuously upgrade their defenses or face extinction.
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Yet, despite reaching the top of the food chain, these giants ultimately vanished when food supplies collapsed.
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The original study focused on beak anatomy and dating without asserting a definitive cause for their extinction.
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Linking their demise to the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago remains an added ecological hypothesis.
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When the asteroid eliminated large marine reptiles, the entire surface food web collapsed. An energy-demanding colossus weighing tons would have been the first to starve once massive prey disappeared from the oceans.
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The downfall of these giant predators forced surviving octopuses to overhaul their survival strategies in the new era.
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Faced with the rise of whales, seals, and fast predatory fish, they stopped competing with giant bodies or crushing jaws.
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One branch chose to retreat even deeper into the dark ocean floor, an environment that had already been their familiar habitat.
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They lowered their energy consumption to a minimum and settled for a soft, flabby body drifting listlessly along just to get by amid scarce food.
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Meanwhile, shallow water lineages shifted to high reproduction, cutting lifespans to just one to two years, laying tens of thousands of eggs, and focusing on camouflage, color shifting, and rapid jet escapes.
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Today's soft, timid squids and octopuses are the result of that tactical retreat. In nature, giant size and brute force can grant dominance for a time, but staying small and adaptable is the true key to surviving mass extinction.
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Did a 19-m soft-bodied monster truly hunt mosasaurs in the Cretaceous seas, or is this figure merely an overestimation of mathematical models?
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Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Topics:prehistoric octopusNanaimoteuthisCretaceousfossil beakpaleontologycephalopod evolutiongiant squidmicro-CTCirrataconvergent evolution
